Sta. Lucia Takes Positions Near New Gov’t Infra Projects

PROPERTY developer Sta. Lucia Land Inc. (SLI) is considering expanding its developments located near major government infrastructure projects that are expected to be completed within the next few years, the company said last week.
In a statement accompanying SLI’s disclosure of its board of directors’ approval of a number of new acquisitions and joint ventures, the company highlighted existing developments that could be upgraded to better take advantage of infrastructure projects in the works.
“The company is looking to expanding its projects that are already strategically located in areas where new government infrastructure projects will be developed,” said SLI’s vice president for the corporate planning, Jeremiah Pampolina, said in an emailed statement.
Many of the projects that will benefit from planned infrastructure are mixed-use or commercial developments, in line with the objective of the company to increase its non-residential business.
“The new driving force in real estate development has become the so-called ‘mixed-use development,’” SLI Chief Financial Officer David dela Cruz explained earlier, after SLI’s successful P4 billion bond issue at the end of July, the proceeds from which will partly fund the company’s planned expansion.
Along the route of the planned LRT Line 2 extension, which will follow the Marcos Highway for most of its length, existing SLI developments or planned projects include the Sta. Lucia City complex in Cainta, Rizal; the proposed Sta. Lucia Business Center in Pasig City, which is a planned six-story commercial building; Sta. Lucia Residenzes Towers 1 and 2 in Cainta, a 20-story and 21-story condominium and hotel/serviced residence, respectively, both connected to SLI’s Il Centro Mall in the Sta. Lucia City complex; and Stradella, a six-story hotel project also located in Cainta.
The new MRT-7 line that will connect Bulacan to the metro area is expected to improve access to SLI’s Colinas Verdes project, a 300-hectare master-planned community in San Jose Del Monte, which includes the Colinas Verdes Country Club; the Neopolitan Business Park in Fairview, Quezon City, a planned 22-hectare complex; also in Fairview near the planned route of the MRT-7 are the Neopolitan Tower and Sotogrande Neopolitan, a residential condominium and 198-unit hotel, respectively.
South of Metro Manila, the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) project and LRT-1 extension will serve SLI’s Greenmeadows at the Orchard residential development in Dasmariñas City; the Sugarland Estates community along Governor’s Drive in Trece Martires City; and the 26-hectare, Spanish Mediterranean-inspired Sotogrande Expansion vacation and residential development in Tagaytay.
The Metro Manila Expressway/C6 project will benefit SLI’s Greenland and Greenwoods Expansion, a residential development located in Cainta near the common boundary with Taytay, Rizal and Pasig City; and Notingham Villas, a mixed commercial and residential townhouse development located in Taytay.
Further afield, two of SLI’s projects in Cebu are expected to benefit from the completion of the new terminal at Mactan-Cebu International Airport, including Mactan’s Arterra Cebu, a 20-story hotel-residential tower; and La Mirada Cebu, a 15-story residential tower.
New properties
SLI also boosted its 2016 property acquisitions by more than 380 hectares last week when its board of directors approved the acquisition of 18 new properties totaling 197.20 hectares in Batangas, Rizal, Bulacan, Iloilo, Cebu, and Davao, and nine joint venture agreements totaling 183.57 hectares in Rizal, Antipolo, Batangas, Pangasinan, Pasig City, Davao, as well as the company’s first venture in Quezon province.
The expansion brings to 783 hectares the total acquisitions or joint development ventures that SLI has signed this year.